Gage.



No; 685,690. Patented Oct. 29', I901. w. P. MOULTON.

GAGE.

(Application filed Dec. 19, 1900.)

(No Model.)

of said plate or frame.

UNTED STATES WILSON P. MOULTON, OF LORAIN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ANDREW M. MOULTON, OF LORAIN, OHIO.

GAGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 685,690, dated October 29, 1901.

Application filed December 19, 1900. Serial No. 40,440. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LWILsoN P. MOULTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lorain, in the county of Lorain and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Gage, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention is animproved gage of the class used by carpenters and joiners, and is especially adapted for use in applying hinges to doors and door-casings; and it consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of a door-casing, showing the manner of using my improved gage as a door-butt gage. Fig. 2 is a plan viewof my improved gage. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same.

The metallic plate or casting 1,which forms the body of the gage, is rectangular in form and is preferably square, as shown. Adj ustable rods 2, which are cylindrical in form and of suitable length, are secured in parallel openings 3 in the plate or frame, which extend to opposite faces thereof near opposite sides The said adjustable rods are secured at any desired adjustment by thumb-screws 4, and said rods have at their outer ends disk-shaped heads 5, which are preferably made of case-hardened steel and are of truncated conical form, their sides being beveled, as at 6, to form the circular cutting edges 7. The faces of the plate or frame 1 are absolutely plane and are not provided with projections or flanges of any kind. The heads 5 of the adj usting-rods which form the markers are formed integrally with the said rods, and being provided with the circular cutting edges beveled on one side the said rods may be slightly turned when the said cutting edges become dulled or worn at any point and used until the entire extent of the circuiarcutting edges have been dulled before it is necessary to resharpeil them.

It will be observed by reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings that the diameter of the cutting-heads is no greater than the thickness of the plate or frame, and it will be understood that when the rods 2, which carry the cuttingheads, are run inward in the frame or plate,

so as to dispose the cutting-heads close to opposite edges or faces thereof, the gage is exceedingly compact and may be readily carried in the pocket. Moreover, the disposition of the cutting edges of the heads wholly within the contour of the plate casting or frame 1 or the limitation of the diameter of the heads to the thickness of the frame provides for the protection of the cutting edges by the frame when the heads are adjusted inward to limit the movement of the rods to prevent injurious contact of said cutting edges with other tools or with a surface upon which the gage may rest when not in use. Moreover, the guide-openings 3, in which the adjustable rods are fitted, extend inward respectively from opposite parallel edges of the frame or plate, each guide being formed in a slight inward enlargement which is located at one corner of the frame, and therefore not only serves to strengthen the frame against distortion by excessive strain, but locates the rod 2 close to and parallel with one side of the frame, so that the bending of the rod by contact with adjacent objects in the course of the rough handling to which tools of this kind are subjected is prevented. It will be observed that this enlargement, which is located Wholly within the frame and does not affect the exterior contour, extends inward parallel with the rod to a point approximately midway of the width of the frame and there terminates to expose a portion of the rod 2 between the inner end of the enlargement and the opposite side of the frame from that beyond which the head projects. This exposed inwardly-projecting portion of the rod enables the operator to accurately adj nst the head or the interval between the same andthe cooper ating edge of the gage by giving him an opportunity to grasp the inner end of the rod, and, moreover, should the rod for any reason, such as rusting or otherwise, become fastened in the guide a thin tool may be inserted between the rear end of the rod and the adjacent innor surface of the opposite side of the gage to facilitate the starting thereof. In the ma= nipulation of the tool the permanent exposure of the inner end of the rod is of material advantage, in that it provides for the adjustment of the rod with relation to the frame without grasping the cutting-head, and thus without obstructing the operators view of that portion of the tool.

The operation of my invention will be understood, and in Fig. 1 of the drawings I have shown the gage in two positions, illustrating its use as a door-butt gage.

In order to mark a proposed rabbet to correspond with the thickness of a butt, the gage will be disposed in the position shown at the upper portion of Fig. 1, the gage shown in the lower portion of said figure being disposed to mark a rabbet of the length or depth of a butt.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. Agage comprising an open frame orplate provided with a guide extending inward from one of its side edges and terminating short of the other side of the frame, a rod adjustably fitted in said guide and having a markinghead, the inner end of the rod being exposed beyond said guide, and means for securing the rod in its adjusted positions.

2. A gage comprising a centrally-open frame or plate having its opposite sides provided with outer parallel edges, and also having parallel guides extending inward from said parallel edges and respectively terminating short of the opposite sides of the frame, parallel rods fitted in said guides and having cutting-heads at their outer ends adjustable toward and from the said parallel edges, the inner ends of said rods being exposed beyond the inner ends of said guides and being arranged parallel with and adjaoentto the other sides of the frame, and means for securing the rods in their adjusted positions.

3. A gage comprising an exteriorly-rectangular centrally-open frame provided at its diagonally opposite corners with interior en largements having guide-openings respectively perpendicular to opposite parallel exterior edges of theframe, each enlargement terminating at an intermediate point of the width of the frame to expose the inner end of the guide-opening, rods adj ustably fitted in said guide-openings, having cutting-heads at their outer ends beyond the opposite outer edges of the frame, and having their inner ends. exposed beyond the guide-openin gs, and means for securing the rods in their adjusted positions. 4. A gage comprising an exteriorly-rectangular centrally-open frame or plate provided in opposite sides with guide-openings which are arranged adjacent to and parallel with the other sides, said frame having interior enlargements at diametrically opposite corners in which said guide-openings are extended, rods adjustably fitted in said guide-openings, provided at their outer ends with cuttingheads of a diameter not exceeding the thickness of the frame or plate, and having their inner ends extended beyond the extremities of the guide-openings within the frame and parallel with the adjacent sides of the latter, and means for securing said rods in their adjusted positions.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

YVILSON P. MOULTON.

Witnesses:

W. B. JOHNSTON, A. H. BABCOCK, Jr. 

